This application claims the priority of German Application No. 196 17 565.8 filed in Germany on May 2, 1996, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a commercial vehicle having a driver's cab and a transport container separated therefrom, and more particularly to such a commercial vehicle wherein the transport container is fastened on the chassis via bearings.
Because of inertia-caused relative movements of the cargo with respect to the transport container during collisions, the transport container may be pushed onto the driver's cab. As a result, the crew in the driver's cab may be jammed between the transport container and the obstacle with which the vehicle has collided.
It is an object of the invention to prevent an uncontrolled impact of the transport container onto the driver's cab in the case of a collision.
This and other objects have been achieved according to the present invention by providing a commercial vehicle having a driver's cab, a chassis and a transport container which is fastened via a plurality of bearings on the chassis behind the driver's cab, the bearings being constructed to absorb impact energy in a driving direction, wherein a wall of the transport container which is adjacent the driver's cab is supported in a vertically upper area via a tension support diagonally extending to one of the bearings which is situated proximate the rearward end of the chassis.
The invention is based on the general idea of disposing the transport container on the chassis of a commercial vehicle of the above-mentioned type on bearings having force-absorbing elements which may also be called "crash elements."
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.